The present invention relates to an endoscopic image processing device, information storage device and image processing method, and the like.
In recent years, an endoscopic image processing device has been widely used that allows the user to perform examination or diagnosis by inserting an elongated insertion section into a body cavity, and observing an internal organ or the like displayed on a monitor screen using a solid-state image sensor or the like provided at the end of the insertion section as an imaging means.
It has become possible to observe minute capillaries in the mucosal surface and the pit pattern of the stomach/large intestine along with an increase in image quality of an endoscopic image processing device, an increase in the number of pixels of a solid-state image sensor (e.g., CCD), and the development and widespread use of a zoom (magnifying) endoscope that is provided with a zooming function while maintaining an outer diameter and operability equal to those of a normal endoscope. Therefore, a micrometer-level fine structure can be observed, and the observation results have been applied to diagnosis of the lesion type, the invasion depth of cancer, and the like. The pit pattern of the large intestine or the intra-epithelial papillary capillary loop (IPCL) (i.e., microscopic blood vessel in the mucous membrane of the gullet) has been observed using such an endoscopic image processing device.
Since a final diagnosis is normally subjectively determined by the doctor when using such an endoscopic image processing device, development of an endoscopic image processing device that makes it possible to implement an objective and numerical diagnosis has been desired. For example, an endoscopic image processing device disclosed in JP-A-2006-141734 supports an objective diagnosis using the pattern feature quantity based on the relationship between the fine structure components of the mucous membrane within the image.